Triangle of Sadness ending explained: Does Abigail kill Yaya?

Triangle of Sadness follows a group of wealthy individuals on a cruise ship and a celebrity couple who end up victims of a series of unfortunate events. The black-comedy film is now streaming on Hulu.

Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers

Plot summary

The film is divided into three parts. The first explores the relationship between two models; Carl and Yaya. The latter is also an influencer.

After Yaya refuses to pay after dinner, Carl is furious at the fact that she always expects him to pay despite the fact that she earns a lot more than him.

She accepts that she is only with him because it’s food for engagement. Yaya insists that the only way of escaping her life is to become someone’s trophy wife. In the second part, the two are invited to a luxury yacht for social media promotion.

They are joined by wealthy guests: Dimitry, a Russian Oligarch, and his wife Vera, Clementine and Winston, an old couple and Therese, a wheelchair-ridden woman who can just speak one sentence in German.

Throughout the cruise, those aboard continue to make absurd demands that the staff fulfils at any cost on orders from their head, Paula. This includes asking the entire staff to go for a swim in the sea.

The captain of the ship, Thomas, neglects his responsibilities and only seems interested in getting drunk inside his cabin.

When the kitchen is forced to swim in the sea as well, the food goes bad. This results in many of the guests vomiting and suffering from diarrhoea. 

As a drunken Thomas and Dimitry debate communism and capitalism over the intercom, a storm hits the yacht, forcing chaos among the guests. The yacht floods and loses power.

When morning arrives, pirates attack the yacht and kill Clementine and Winston with a grenade. Only a handful survive and reach an island, including Carl, Yaya, Dimitry, Therese, Paula, Jarmo, and ship mechanic Nelson. This commences part 3.

Triangle of Sadness ending explained in detail:

How does Abigail gain control of the group?

On the new island, the survivors attempt to retain the prior hierarchy, but the cleaning lady Abigail proves to have superior survival skills compared to everybody else.

She uses this to take control of the group and become the ‘captain’ by catching the fish and withholding the food from the rest.

Abigail also uses her newfound power to force Carl into a sexual relationship with her by providing him with privileges and food.

This exchange between Abigail and Carl starts to make Yaya jealous as she notices hints. Carl contemplates leaving Yaya to be with Abigail.

Is the island actually deserted?

Yaya decides to explore the other side of the island and Abigail decides to join her, which concerns Carl. Therese finds a hawker on the island but is unable to convey their plight because of her limited speech.

Yaya finds an elevator and realises that they were near a beachside resort all along. She is ecstatic about the discovery and tells Abigail, who refuses to enter, possibly because she doesn’t want her old life back.

Does Abigail kill Yaya at the end?

After the resort discovery, Yaya sheds her ill feelings towards Abigail for her relationship with Carl. Abigail, on the other hand, has a different idea.

When Yaya is looking the other way and is completely unaware, she approaches her with a rock to bash her head and kill her. But just as she is about to go through with it, Yaya offers her a better job, as her personal secretary,

This makes Abigail hesitate for a second and it is never shown if she went through with it. Carl rushes to them, sensing it could go bad quickly. The film is left open-ended.


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